The History of Competitive "Pokémon": RSE and DPP Quiz

Answer: Boosts a Pokemon's Attack stat by 1.5x in exchange for locking it into one move

The Choice Band became a common item for physical attackers. Even physically oriented mixed attackers might have it equipped. The nasty side effect of being locked into one move was still well worth the benefit of added firepower. After a mostly stall oriented second generation, the Choice Band helped guide the third generation a little bit more towards faster play styles by making walls such as Skarmory, Blissey, and Suicune a little easier to break with proper prediction.

Answer: Submission

Submission, an old mainstay in Mewtwo's second generation arsenal, finally got the boot in the third generation, as Mewtwo no longer needed the Fighting type coverage in order to function. With the introduction of Calm Mind and Taunt, Mewtwo could once again viably run one of the moves that made it so terrifying in the first generation in Psychic.

It no longer had to worry about Blissey showing up to stop it, as the combination of Taunt, Calm Mind, and Recover allowed Mewtwo to turn what would otherwise be its biggest check into mere setup fodder. Shadow Ball was another effective move in Mewtwo's arsenal that allowed it to combat Lugia and newcomer Deoxys-D.

Although Taunt could shut these two down depending on their set, Shadow Ball was a much more direct way of dealing with them, and was useful if Mewtwo was not needed to sweep, but to instead support a partner that was weak to Lugia, Deoxys-D, and other Psychic types, such as Swords Dance variants of Groudon.

Answer: Water Spout

While the other three options were other tools Kyogre had at its disposal, it was the threat of a full HP Water Spout with the boost from its self induced rain that made Kyogre such a scary threat to deal with. To demonstrate its power, a full HP Water Spout could 2HKO a Blissey if Kyogre got one layer of Spikes in support! Drizzle allowed Kyogre to simultaneously support itself and its team, which would ideally be built to take advantage of the eternal rain. Thunder, becoming fully accurate under said rain, became an important coverage move for Kyogre, allowing it to hit opposing Water types and Lugia for super effective damage. Hydro Pump was useful for when Kyogre's HP would become too low to make use of Water Spout.

Answer: Special sweeper

Groudon was an amazing Pokémon in the third generation, but it could not perform the role of a special attacker the way it's rival could. Groudon's lack of useful STAB to work with and significantly lesser special attack stat (100- Kyogre's 150) meant that any attempt to have Groudon fill this role would be blatantly using an inferior Pokémon for the role. Nevertheless, Groudon could fill roles Kyogre could not, as its massive defense stat combined with a great defensive typing meant that Groudon could be a solid physical wall. Access to Swords Dance and a good physical movepool meant that Groudon could also sweep after its checks had been sufficiently weakened.

Answer: Tyranitar

Weezing was regarded as the sturdiest Snorlax counter in the game, as it was capable of stopping Snorlax's Curse shenanigans dead in the water with Haze. It could feast off of Snorlax's massive HP stat with Pain Split in order to stay healthy, it had enormous physical bulk with which to absorb Snorlax's STAB, and it either was immune to or took little damage from any coverage move Snorlax could reasonably run. Skarmory is the second sturdiest Snorlax counter, as a Snorlax without Fire type coverage does not stand a chance at ever breaking down Skarmory unless Snorlax is the last Pokémon left, in which case it can fearlessly boost Curse, but will still be stalled out if it packed Body Slam or Return instead of Double Edge. Misdreavus, while a niche metagame choice, has an immunity to Snorlax's STAB in addition to, like Weezing, easily handling Snorlax's coverage moves barring the rare Shadow Ball. Misdreavus can then PerishTrap Snorlax just as it could in the second generation. Tyranitar, while it can check Snorlax, will lose to any Snorlax packing Earthquake or Focus Punch, as these moves destroy Tyranitar.

However, if Snorlax did not pack either of these moves, the tide shifts into Tyranitar's favor, as it can now set up on and overwhelm Snorlax.

Answer: Allowing moves of a certain type to be either physical or special attacking moves depending on the move

The biggest update in "Pokémon" history, this changed the lives of many of our favorite critters. When we think of a Pokémon who was heavily impacted by this new mechanic, Gengar is the first Pokémon to come to mind. Gengar could, for the first time ever, viably run its STAB Ghost and Poison type moves, which would be Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb, as these moves now came off of its higher Special Attack stat as a result of the physical/special split.

However, all was not perfect for Gengar, as due to this new mechanic, Gengar had to be careful of Pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar and Scizor, as Pursuit was now a physical move that these two could easily run to eliminate Gengar from play assuredly.

Answer: Arceus-Normal

It was in the fourth generation where Extreme Killer Arceus was born, and to this day continues to ravage the world of Pokémon. A simple yet deadly set of Swords Dance, Extremespeed, Shadow Claw, and the user's choice of Earthquake, Stone Edge, Recover, or Overheat would manifest itself into what was the undisputed best Pokémon in all of the fourth generation. With the ability to choose what checked it and what didn't, there was no such thing as a consistent answer to the Extreme Killer. As the competitive Pokémon format Smogon says, "stare in pure, unadulterated horror and ominous presentiment at what is unequivocally the best and most versatile Pokemon in the game. Dare not incur Arceus's divine wrath, or else the consequences shall be severe and merciless, and life shall become but an evanescent wisp."

Amazingly, they are not understating just how amazing the Extreme Killer was.

Answer: Bulk Up + Outrage + Rest + Sleep Talk with Leftovers

With the exception of the Calm Mind option (Dialga did not have access to the move), these sets were all viable choices in their own right, but none stood out as much as Dialga's famous Bulk Up set. Running Rest allowed Dialga to rid itself of self induced confusion from Outrage, and with no Fairy typing coming to existence yet, Outrage had no immunities, and was essentially a 120 base power move with no drawbacks. Dialga's excellent Steel/Dragon typing meant it could find setup opportunities quite easily, as its bulk was good enough where sponging neutral hits would not be too difficult. Before long, countermeasures to this set sprung into existence, with Groudon, Lucario, and Skarmory being the most common Bulk Up Dialga answers, but Dialga could get past the former 2 by wearing them down over the course of a long battle, while the latter would fail to check Dialga if it was the last Pokémon on its team.

Answer: Salamence

Salamence's Dragon Dance set ultimately proved to be too much for the OU tier, as it could set up with absurd ease on just about any non Ice type thanks to the cushion provided from the Intimidate ability. After just one Dragon Dance, Salamence would turn the entire tier into its personal buffet.

It wasn't long until it joined Garchomp in Ubers, where it was still effective when partnered with Rayquaza with this Dragon Dance set.

Answer: Rayquaza

Rayquaza's combination of Draco Meteor and Outrage would KO Lugia every time if it took Stealth Rock damage on the way in, and still did a ton of damage to even a full health Lugia. Rayquaza was the one mixed attacker that gave Lugia trouble as a result.

It is possible for the other three here to defeat Lugia, but they need a lot of luck, Stealth Rock, and expert prediction, whereas Rayquaza just needs one of either Stealth Rock or good prediction to take Lugia down, while having both would assure Lugia's defeat.